DeKUT awarded EBK certificate of acccreditation

Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT) was recently awarded an accreditation certificate by the Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK) for approval of its engineering courses at the university grounds.This was after the board finally accredited its four engineering programmes making it the fourth university in Kenya to offer engineering courses recognized by the board.The engineering programmes accredited include Bsc. Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics

Speaking during the ceremony at the university, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. P.N. Kioni said, “It’s been a long journey to accreditation and the university did everything possible to make sure its core courses are accredited. He further appealed to the Board for support in the expansion of the engineering programmes.

The Vice Chancellor highlighted the fact that the university had to invite the Engineers Board of Kenya for the accreditation process. Before the accreditation, the university had to submit its programme design, curriculum content and the proposed teaching staff to the board for evaluation. This was followed up by an accreditation visit whereby the board assesses the university’s capacity to offer the programmes.

The Board had to ensure the university’s capability of having adequate learning venues, libraries, laboratories and all the other facilities necessary to adequately train competent engineering students. The Board also certifies that the training duration is ideal as it recommends a training period of five years in the Kenyan education to efficiently cover the engineering curriculum.

The university started the road to accreditation in the year 2012 when it was a constituent college of Jommo Kenyatta University of Technology (JKUAT). However, the university has had to make huge sacrifices to ensure that it offers credible engineering courses; Prof. Kioni noted that the university accepted to invest in the engineering department especially prioritizing the laboratory construction and the equipment purchase.

Speaking during the ceremony, EBK Chairman, Eng.Wanjau Maina said, “The Board will maintain high standards and ensure competitive engineers are in the market.” He further pointed out that good engineering leads to good economy and the Board will put up mechanisms to fast track registration of engineers.

At the ceremony, EBK noted that there’s a huge gap in the industry as the number of engineers going out to the market is quite wanting. The board highlighted the fact that it will be carrying out continuous professional development courses to equip the engineers with the relevant skills needed in the market.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Collete Suda, appealed to universities to produce competitive engineers in the global market. She further added that for the realization of the Vision 2030 there is need to increase the per capita engineer ratio, since the country requires close to 80,000 engineers. Furthermore, the universities should also train technologists to bridge the gap of skilled artisans. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will play its role by ensuring the universities develop the right infrastructure to train the engineers.

In 2014, the Engineers Board of Kenya failed to accredit almost forty engineering programmes citing its reasons to poor curriculum development for the engineering courses in the country. The Engineers Act (2011) mandates the Board to approve and accredit engineering programmes in public and private universities and other tertiary educational institutions.

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